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It's off! SpaceX rocket carries 27 communications satellites into orbit from the Central Coast

The view back to Vandenberg Space Force Base from a Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Central Coast Tuesday morning.
SpaceX
The view back to Vandenberg Space Force Base from a Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Central Coast Tuesday morning.

Reusable first stage booster landed on a barge off the West Coast

Maybe you saw it, as SpaceX launched a rocket with 27 communications satellites on board from the Central Coast Tuesday morning.

The Falcon 9 rocket took off from Vandenberg Space Force base at 7:45 a.m. It had been delayed multiple times over the last few days, including a last minute hold when an aircraft accidentally ended up in restricted airspace for the launch.

The 27 satellites are the latest additions to the Starlink network, which is providing internet and cell phone service to underserved parts of the world.

There's another SpaceX launch scheduled for the base this week, with the launch window opening at 5:54 a.m. Friday,

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.